Okinawa Japan
 

Here are some photos of bananas I saw growing on the side of the road. One of the pictures is a person's garden but the rest I am not sure if they are wild or not. They are not being cared for. There were tons of them growing in this group.

Farm close to the road bananas



Road Bananas
















I don't think the farm bananas and the road bananas are the same.

The trunk of the road bananas was not very thick. I think the p-stem was about 7 feet.

Re: Okinawa Japan
 

I lived there for 2 1/2 years. Loved the place. There were so many wild bananas growing all over the jungle.

mark

Re: Okinawa Japan
 

its pretty neat.

I think the things in the middle of the banana split open photo are seeds and will become very hard and large.

DId you notice how big the bananas got? I thought about taking one of the pups but then thought better of it. One of the plants had fallen over exposing all the corm.

Re: Okinawa Japan
 

Hi friends,
I think the farm banana in the pix would be what they locally call "Shima
Banana" or Islands' Banana which is one of the typical species grown or
semi-wild in the region. However I don't know its common name or academic
name which I eagerly want to know.
I unfortunately have no idea about the road bananas in the pix.

Steelviper: As you had lived there for 2 and half years, do you happen to
know the common name of "Shima Banana"?
Stan

Re: Okinawa Japan
 

Sorry i do not know the common name of this kind of banana. All i can remember is what you just referred to "shima" that the locals called it .I remember the outdoor and indoor markets of Naha, Kadena, and most towns with this type of banana.I remember roaming the jungle of kandea air bases munitions storage area, and finding many basjoos, and many other types of bananas. Back then (94-96) i was more into chasing the local women then bananas. LOL!

found this lil link.

http://www.japanupdate.com/?id=730

Re: Okinawa Japan
 

The road banana is Musa balbisiana. Cool shots! Don't know about the others though. Are you currently over there, or are these from a recent trip?

Re: Okinawa Japan
 

I am here right now. I guess one of the benifits of the job, but I have been traveling more than I would like. My wife is going to join me in Tokyo on Friday so that will be nice.

Is the banana you named seeded Bigdog?

Thanks,

Joshua

Re: Okinawa Japan
 

I found some information on webebananas about it. It looks like its a seedy banana and its used to develop new breeds.